MPlayer is a movie and animation player that supports a wide range of codecs and file formats, including MPEG 1/2/4,DivX 3/4/5, Windows Media 7/8/9, RealAudio/Video up to 9, Quicktime 5/6, and Vivo 1/2. It has many MX/SSE (2)/3Dnow(Ex) optimized native audio and video codecs, but allows using XAnim’s and RealPlayer’s binary codec plugins, and Win32 codec DLLs. It has basic VCD/DVD playback functionality, including DVD subtitles, but supports many text-
based subtitle formats too. For video output, nearly every existing interface is supported. It’s also able to convert any supported files to raw/divx/mpeg4 AVI (pcm/mp3 audio), and even video grabbing from V4L devices.
Install Mplayer in Ubuntu Dapper Drake
You need to add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list file
gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
enter these two lines and save your file
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper universe multiverse
Install Mplayer in Ubuntu Edgy eft
You need to add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list file
gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
enter these two lines and save your file
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy universe multiverse
Install Mplayer in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
You need to add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list file
gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
enter these two lines and save your file
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty universe multiverse
Now you need to run the following command to update the source list
sudo apt-get update
Install mplayer using the following command
sudo apt-get install mplayer
if you want to open mplayer just type
gmplayer
or
You can Open from Applications—>Sound&Video—> Mplayer Movie Player
Once it opens you should see the following screen
Installing libdvdcss2 and w32 video codecs in Ubuntu
Support for WMV, RealMedia and other formats has been bundled into the w32codecs package. This package is not available from the Ubuntu repositories due to licensing and legal restrictions.
Edit /etc/apt/sources.list file and enter the following repositories
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
You can install this DVD playback and w32codecs using Seveas Repository
For Ubuntu Dapper Drake Users
deb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl dapper-seveas all
deb-src http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl dapper-seveas all
For Ubuntu Edgy Eft Users
deb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all
deb-src http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all
Now you need to copy the key using the following command
wget http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl/1135D466.gpg -O- ¦ sudo apt-key add -
For Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Users
deb http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ feisty free non-free
deb-src http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ feisty free non-free
Now you need to copy the key using the following command
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- ¦ sudo apt-key add -
Update the source list using the following command
sudo apt-get update
Install Codecs using the following command
sudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2
Using above download locations you can install most of the mutimedia codecs for ubuntu.
sudo apt-get update
Mplayer Plugin for Firefox
If you want to install Mplayer with plug-in for Mozilla Firefox run the following command
sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer
Friday, 30 March 2007
Install Mplayer and Multimedia Codecs (libdvdcss2,w32codecs) in Ubuntu Dapper Drake,Edgy Eft,Feisty Fawn
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
How to Set-up a gameport,gamepad or joystick in Ubuntu
If you want gameport,gamepad or joystick to work in Ubuntu you need to follow this procedure
Basics of Game Port,Gamepad and Joystick
Game Port
The game port is the traditional connector for video game input devices on an x86-based PCs. The game port is usually integrated with a PC I/O or sound card, either ISA or PCI, or as an on-board feature of some motherboards. The game port is no longer supported by Windows Vista and will thus likely largely disappear.
Gamepad
A gamepad, also called joypad or control pad, is a type of game controller held in the hand, where the digits (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left. The direction controller has traditionally been a four-way digital cross (D-pad), but most modern controllers additionally (or as a substitute) feature an analog stick. The analog stick was introduced with the Atari 5200 controller, but did not reach popularity until the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn.
Joystick
A joystick is a personal computer peripheral or general control device consisting of a handheld stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two or three dimensions to a computer. Most joysticks are two-dimensional, having two axes of movement (similar to a mouse), but three-dimensional joysticks do exist. A joystick is generally configured so that moving the stick left or right signals movement along the X axis, and moving it forward (up) or back (down) signals movement along the Y axis. In joysticks that are configured for three-dimensional movement, twisting the stick left (counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise) signals movement along the Z axis. These three axes - X Y and Z - are, in relation to an aircraft, roll, pitch, and yaw.
Now we will see how to configure some Game Port,Gamepad,Joystick modules in Ubuntu
First, we need to check if the gameport module is already loaded.
In a terminal, type the following command
lsmod
It should display a list of the currently loaded modules.
One of the lines should begin with 'gamepad'
gameport 17160 2 snd_es1938
If you didn't find any similar line, look for the way to enable the gameport for your specific sound card in the list below.
Now, we need to setup the gamepad/joystick.Again in a terminal, type the following
sudo modprobe joydev
Testing and calibrating the gamepad/joystick
If you want to check if everything's working correctly or/and you want to callibrate your device, you can try out jscalibrator.
What is jscalibrator ?
GTK Joystick Calibrator With jscalibrator you can calibrate your joystick for Linux games. The Joystick Wrapper library (libjsw) is designed to provide a uniform API and user configuration for joysticks and other game controllers on all platforms.
It features an integrated library level calibration system using jscalibrator to provide a one time calibration for any program that uses libjsw. libjsw also features several levels of advanced joystick input error correction.
Install jscalibrator in Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install jscalibrator
If you want to use this program run the following command from your terminal
jscalibrator
A new window should appear which should allow you to test and calibrate your device.
List of gameports, gamepads/joysticks and their corresponding commands
Gameports
Classic ISA/PnP gameports
sudo modprobe ns558
Crystal SoundFusion gameports
sudo modprobe cs461x
Aureal Vortex and Trident 4DWave gameports
sudo modprobe pcigame
SoundBlaster Live! gameports
sudo modprobe emu10k1-gp
Any other gameports(If your sound card isn't one of the above and you couldn't find it in lsmod, try this command)
sudo modprobe gameport
Gamepads and Joysticks
Analog joysticks and gamepads: (Most gamepads and joysticks, especially generic ones, work well with this one)
sudo modprobe analog
Assassin 3D and MadCatz Panther devices
sudo modprobe a3d
Logitech ADI digital joysticks and gamepads
sudo modprobe adi
Creative Labs Blaster Cobra gamepad
sudo modprobe cobra
Genius Flight2000 Digital joysticks and gamepads
sudo modprobe gf2k
Gravis GrIP joysticks and gamepads
sudo modprobe grip
InterAct digital joysticks and gamepads
sudo modprobe interact
ThrustMaster DirectConnect joysticks and gamepads
sudo modprobe tmdc
Microsoft SideWinder digital joysticks and gamepads
sudo modprobe sidewinder
Microsoft xbox controller then the command is
sudo modprobe xpad
then do jscalibrator
Some parts of this procedure from here
Read More......Monday, 26 March 2007
How to Fix broken Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
Ubuntu Development team released ubuntu feisty fawn beta on 23rd March 2007 some of them started upgrading their edgy to feisty .If your feisty broken here is the procedure to fix that.
Boot up with a live cd, or ubuntu CD from a different partition.
Mount your feisty drive somewhere in this example i am mounting on /media/feisty
Create a directiory when do you want to mount
sudo mkdir /media/feisty
Mount your drive using the following command
sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/feisty
(replace /dev/sda2 with name of drive, e.g. hda1 etc.)
chroot into your feisty drive.
sudo chroot /media/feisty su
Update your system via apt as normal. (sudo is not required)
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
ctrl+d or type "exit" to exit the chroot, then reboot the computer and you should be able to get back into feisty.
Sometimes there will be no Internet connection in the chroot environment.
To correct this, we have to enter the following command
sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /media/feisty/etc/resolv.conf
Read More......Sunday, 25 March 2007
Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Beta Preview
The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 7.04 Beta and it comes packed with a whole host of excellent new features including the released GNOME 2.18, the 2.6.20 kernel and much more.
Ubuntu 7.04 is the most user-friendly Ubuntu to date and includes a ground-breaking Windows migration assistant, excellent wireless networking support and improved multimedia support.
Final Release Date
This is still an beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released in 19th April 2007.
New features in Feisty Fawn
Migration assistant: The new migration tool recognises Internet Explorer bookmarks, Firefox favourites, desktop wallpaper, AOL IM contacts, and Yahoo IM contacts, and imports them into Ubuntu during installation. This offers easier and faster migration for new users of Ubuntu and individuals wanting to run a dual-boot system.
Easy-to-install codec wizards: A new guided wizard for installing codecs not shipped with Ubuntu gives users a safe way of installing codecs they can legally use to view multimedia content.
Plug and play network sharing with Avahi: This new feature allows users to automatically discover and join a wireless network and share music, find printers and more.
Kernel Virtual Machine: On x86 systems with the Intel VT or AMD-V extensions, Kernel-based Virtual Machine support (KVM) allows users to run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux. Each virtual machine has private virtualised hardware: a network card, disk, graphics adapter, and so on. We have also added VMI support, which provides optimised performance under VMWare.
Faster searching with Tracker: Tracker is a search tool much like Beagle. Both programs will be available in the repositories.
Networking Improvements: New in Feisty is Network Manager, a simple way to find and connect to wireless and wired networks.New Zeroconf support makes it easy to network desktop computers without needing servers to assign IP addresses or names.
Artwork:For Feisty all new artwork is trickling in, including a new background image, and a usplash image that has more 'bling'.
Help Center:In order to make Help more accessible, a brand new Help Center with a easier to use interface that is more stylish.
Print and sound support: Jetpipe, a new printing architecture for thin clients, greatly improves on previous technologies.Sound support in applications is also dramatically improved with the PulseAudio sound server.
Thin client management: Administrators can now manage thin client connections to a server more easily.
VPN: Easy VPN access with NetworkManager.
New Gnome control center
Desktop Effects: Graphical Desktop Effects will be made extremely accessible, with one click activation in the system menu.
Current versions available in Festy Fawn
On the Desktop: GNOME 2.18, OpenOffice.org 2.2.0rc3, X.org 7.2
On the Server: Apache 2.2, PostgreSQL 8.2, PHP 5.2.1, LTSP 5.0
Under the hood: GCC 4.1.2, glibc 2.5, Linux 2.6.20, Python 2.5
Installation
First You need to Download Feisty Beta .iso file from here and burn a cd with this now you need to boot from this cd to start the your festy cd once it booted from this cd you can see am icon called install to start installation.
the Ubuntu graphical installer now no longer uses the GParted program for partitioning. Starting with Ubuntu 7.04, Ubiquity has it’s own partitioning tool.
Here are some screenshots of the new partitioning tool
Final Festy installer Improvement
One of the minor tweaks to the installer is an advanced option at the last screen of the installer. In the window that is displayed you can pick the device for the boot loader installation and select if you want to join in the package usage survey.
Ubuntu Migration assistant
The new migration tool recognises Internet Explorer bookmarks, Firefox favourites, desktop wallpaper, AOL IM contacts, and Yahoo IM contacts, and imports them into Ubuntu during installation. This offers easier and faster migration for new users of
Ubuntu and individuals wanting to run a dual-boot system.Currently i am not using dual boot so i am showing sample screenshot for this.
Ubuntu Help Center
I knew kde had a help center with some stuff like how to change your wallpaper, etc. But This was very nice. A simple and useful help center has been included in ubuntu. This has loads of useful articles on how to install multimedia codecs, help for server systems, and almost everything you may need. To top it all off, a very useful search that found articles on nvidia drivers, mp3 codec installation, and an entire section dedicated towards ubuntu propaganda like “the desktop”, “The difference” etc. But real good stuff indeed.
Gnome Control Center
utilities to configure the GNOME desktop this contains configuration applets for the GNOME desktop, allowing to set accessibility configuration, desktop fonts, keyboard and mouse properties, sound setup, desktop theme and background, user interface properties, screen resolution, and other GNOME parameters.It also contains a front end to these applets, which can also be accessed with the GNOME panel or the Nautilus file manager.
First made it’s debut in the Novell and SuSe distributions, this nice piece of software is now ported to Ubuntu to make our lives easier but it entirely depends on user.
Easy-to-install codec wizards
A new guided wizard for installing codecs not shipped with Ubuntu gives users a safe way of installing codecs they can legally use to view multimedia content.Ubuntu will try to install the necessary codecs automatically, and start playing the desired file.
New Games: Sudoku and Chess
Currently Ubuntu Feisty is including these two new games.Gnome Sudoku is a logic game with a Japanese name that has recently exploded in popularity. Originally developed by Thomas Hinkle, now included in gnome-games. Gnome Sudoku is written in Python. glChess is a 2D/3D chess game, where games can be played between a combination of human and computer players. If you want to open these games go to Applications--- > Games--- > Chess or Sudoku
Chess, GNOME style
Sudoku, GNOME style
Your disk in ring view
One of the new tools that came with Ubuntu 6.10 was the Disk Usage Analyzer. With this new version, you can easily view your disk usage stastics in a more intuitive manner.
Disk analyzer
Mount Windows Partitions Made Easy
Using ntfs-config program allow you to easily configure all of your NTFS devices to allow write support via a friendly gui. For that use, it will configure them to use the open source ntfs-3g driver. You'll also be able to easily disable this feature.You can see simple screenshot to enable write support for internal/external device
Some more Interesting applications
Tomboy
Tomboy is a desktop note-taking application for Linux and Unix. Simple and easy to use, but with potential to help you organize the ideas and information you deal with every day.
Sticky Notes
This will allows you to create computer sticky notes to keep all information you have to remember on your PC desktop.
Weather Map
If you want to set-up local weather map on your ubuntu desktop it is very easy in ubuntu feisty.Sample screenshot as follows
Desktop Search Tool
Beagle is a search tool that ransacks your personal information space to find whatever you're looking for.A desktop search util for indexing and searching user's data. At the moment, it can index filesystems, Gaim logs, Evolution mail and data, RSS and other. We have one more tools for this is called tracker you can use this one also.
Desktop Effects
Graphical Desktop Effects will be made extremely accessible, with one click activation in the system menu.Compiz will be installed by default in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn.If you want to enable Go to System->Preferences->Desktop Effects, click the 'Enable Desktop Effects' button.
Ubuntu Studio
Ubuntu Studio aims to be a multimedia editing/creation flavor of Ubuntu for the Linux audio, video, and graphic enthusiast or professional who is already familiar with the Ubuntu-Gnome environment. Ubuntu Studio is currently in planning. This page is the starting point for these plans.Now UbuntuStudio Packages available in feisty fawn you can see this in the following screen
You can see the available tools for UbuntuStudio
Plug and play network sharing with Avahi
This new feature allows users to automatically discover and join a wireless network and share music, find printers and more.Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network. This means that you can plug your laptop or computer into a network and instantly be able to view other people who you can chat with, find printers to print to or find files being shared.
Artwork
For Feisty all new artwork is trickling in, including a new background image, and a usplash image that has more 'bling'. Now we will see some of screen shots
Better bug reporting
Since this is an alpha release not all system applications are stable, and to help testers file bug reports the latest release of apport is included.
Upgrade Ubuntu Edgy Eft to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (Beta)
If you want to upgrade Ubuntu Edgy Eft to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn you need to remember the following points
1) Before upgrde take backup of your complete data and then start upgrade
2) This is still in beta version so be carefull before doing upgrade in production machines
Now you need to follow step by step upgrade guide
Conclusion
I really Like Ubuntu festy Fawn and this will be the best release ever from ubuntu development team.This includes lots of desktop features includes network manager, Easy-to-install codec wizards,migration assistant,Kernel Virtual Machine,desktop effects like Beryl or Compiz get a more prominent place and and many more in this wonderful operating system.
Read More......Saturday, 24 March 2007
Sharing Ubuntu Desktop Using Remote Desktop
vino is VNC server for GNOME.VNC is a protocol that allows remote display of a user's desktop. This package provides a VNC server that integrates with GNOME, allowing you to export your running desktop to another computer for remote use or diagnosis.
By default ubuntu will come with vino-server so it is very easy to configure to enable remote desktop sharing in your ubuntu machine.If you want to access ubuntu machine remotely you need to login in to your ubuntu system.
Important note :-
Remote Desktop will only work if there's a GNOME login session.Leaving your computer with an unattended GNOME login session is not secure and not recommended.
Some Useful Tips
1) You can lock your screen using System--->Quit
Once you click on quit you should see the following screen here you need to select lockscreen
2) switch off your monitor when computer is left unattended
Configuring Remote Desktop
First you need to go to System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop
Once it opens you should see the following screen
In the above screen you need to configure remote desktop preferences for sharing and security
For Sharing
you need to tick the box next to the following two options
Allow other users to view your desktop
Allow other users to control your desktop
For Security
you need to tick the box next to the following two options
Ask you for confirmation (If you tick this option some one need to click on allow from remote desktop once it connected if you don't want you can untick this option)
Require the user to enter this password:
Password: Specify the password
Connecting from Ubuntu Machine
Open your terminal from Applications--->Accessories--->Terminal and enter the following command
vncviewer -fullscreen 192.168.2.23:0
now you should see the following message asking for password enter the password after complete success you can see VNC authentication succeeded message and starting remote desktop
VNC viewer version 3.3.7 - built Jul 4 2006 10:04:48
Copyright (C) 2002-2003 RealVNC Ltd.
Copyright (C) 1994-2000 AT&T Laboratories Cambridge.
See http://www.realvnc.com for information on VNC.
VNC server supports protocol version 3.7 (viewer 3.3)
Password:
VNC authentication succeeded
If you want to quit vncviewer
Press 'F8' and select Quit viewer
Connecting from Windows machine
If you are trying to connect from your windows machine you need to install vncviewer of your choice i have installed from here http://www.realvnc.com/download.html.Install this program once you install this you can opem from start--->All programs--->RealVNC--->VNC Viewer 4--->Run VNC Viewer once it opens you should see the following screen here enter the remotemachine ipaddress:0 format and click ok
Now it will prompt for password enter your password and click ok
Now on the remote machine you should see the following screen asking for permission to allow this connection you need to click on allow this will comeup only if you tick "Ask you for confirmation" option under sharing
Once it connected you should see the remote machine desktop like the following screen
Friday, 23 March 2007
Enable DVD playback and w32codecs in Ubuntu System
w32codecs this is a package of codecs needed to play multiple formats, notably DivX. (disponible. Maintainer: MirSPCM)
DVD playback and w32codecs are not a feature that is installed by default due to license restrictions.
Note: In some parts of the world using DVD playback is not legal.
Installing libdvdcss2 and w32 video codecs in UbuntuSupport for WMV, RealMedia and other formats has been bundled into the w32codecs package. This package is not available from the Ubuntu repositories due to licensing and legal restrictions.
Edit /etc/apt/sources.list file and enter the following repositoriessudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
You can install this DVD playback and w32codecs using Seveas Repository
For Ubuntu Dapper Usersdeb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl dapper-seveas all
deb-src http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl dapper-seveas all
deb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all
deb-src http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all
wget http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl/1135D466.gpg -O- ¦ sudo apt-key add -
Update the source list using the following commandsudo apt-get update
Install Codecs using the following commandsudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2
Using above download locations you can install most of the mutimedia codecs for ubuntu.Read More......
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Windows NTFS Partitions Read/write support made easy in Ubuntu Feisty
This program allow you to easily configure all of your NTFS devices to allow write support via a friendly gui. For that use, it will configure them to use the open source ntfs-3g driver. You'll also be able to easily disable this feature.
Current Stable 0.5.5
Project Home page :- http://flomertens.free.fr/ntfs-config/
Requirements
windows with Feisty dual-boot installation and external hard drive (Optional)
Install NTFS-config in Ubuntu Feisty
Now You can install NTFS-config from Ubuntu Feisty repositories (Make sure you have enabled Universe Repositories)
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
This will install all the required packages for ntfs-config including ntfs-3g
Using Ntfs-Config
If you want to open this application go to Applications--->System Tools--->NTFS Configuration Tool
Now it will prompt for root password enter root password and click ok
It will show the available NTFS partition as follows in this example /dev/sda1 in NTFS partition
You need to select the partitions you want to configure,add the name of the mount point and click on apply.In this example i have ticked the check box next to /dev/sda1 and click under mount enter the name you want to use i have entered as windows now the mount point showing as /media/windows and click on apply.
Select the NTFS Write support which is suitable for you i.e internal or external
In this example i have tick the check box next to Enable write support for internal device because i am using dualboot with windows.If you are using external hard drive select external option and click on ok
Once it finished you should see the mount point on your desktop as follows
You can see the windows mount point files as follows
If you want to unmount you should be root to unmount and then right click on mount point select Unmount Volume
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Performance tip for Ubuntu Edgy and Feisty users
I have checked this in ubuntu Feisty forums .One user suggested the following tip to improve the applications launch performance.
Edit your “/etc/hosts” file
sudo gedit /etc/hosts
You should see something like this
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 onlyubuntu
(and if your in Feisty, some lines about IPV6 also)
Now, You need to Replace with the following lines
127.0.0.1 localhost onlyubuntu
127.0.1.1 onlyubuntu
(Replace “onlyubuntu” with your hostname)
Save and exit the file.
Now your applications launch should improve.
Currently There are two bugs filed against this you can check here and here
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
Bandwidth Monitoring Tools For Linux
Bandwidth in computer networking refers to the data rate supported by a network connection or interface. One most commonly expresses bandwidth in terms of bits per second (bps). The term comes from the field of electrical engineering, where bandwidth represents the total distance or range between the highest and lowest signals on the communication channel (band).
Bandwidth represents the capacity of the connection. The greater the capacity, the more likely that greater performance will follow, though overall performance also depends on other factors, such as latency.
Here is the huge list of bandwidth monitoring tools with current stable version and project home page.
Autofocus
AutoFocus is a traffic analysis and visualization tool that describes the traffic mix of a link through textual reports and time series plots.
Current Stable Version :- 0.3.6
Project Home Page :- http://ial.ucsd.edu/AutoFocus/
Bandwidthd
BandwidthD tracks usage of TCP/IP network subnets and builds html files with graphs to display utilization. Charts are built by individual IPs, and by default display utilization over 2 day, 8 day, 40 day, and 400 day periods. Furthermore, each ip address's utilization can be logged out at intervals of 3.3 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour or 12 hours in cdf format, or to a backend database server. HTTP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, VPN, and P2P traffic are color coded.
Current Stable Version :- 2.0.1
Project Home Page :- http://bandwidthd.sourceforge.net/
Bmon
bmon is a portable bandwidth monitor and rate estimator running on various operating systems. It supports various input methods for different architectures. Various output modes exist including an interactive curses interface,lightweight HTML output but also formatable ASCII output.
Current Stable Version :- 2.1.0
Project Home Page :- http://people.suug.ch/~tgr/bmon/
Bwbar
bwbar is a small C-based program for Linux-based machines which produces bandwidth usage statistics for a network interface. It was originally written by H. Peter Anvin, and I (Brian Towne) modified it somewhat to better suit my needs. The original program was released under the GPL. A number of people have asked for the modified program and its source, so I have created this page.
Current Stable Version :- 1.2.3
Project Home Page :- http://www.mythica.org/bwbar/
bwm
This is a very tiny bandwidth monitor (not X11). Can monitor up to 16 interfaces in the in the same time, and shows totals too.
Current Stable Version :- 1.1.0
bwm-ng
small and simple console-based bandwidth monitor.Bandwidth Monitor NG is a small and simple console-based live bandwidth monitor.
Current Stable Version :- 0.5
Cacti
Cacti is a complete network graphing solution designed to harness the power of RRDTool's data storage and graphing functionality. Cacti provides a fast poller, advanced graph templating, multiple data acquisition methods, and user management features out of the box. All of this is wrapped in an intuitive, easy to use interface that makes sense for LAN-sized installations up to complex networks with hundreds of devices.
Current Stable Version :- 0.8.6j
Project Home Page :- http://cacti.net/
cbm
cbm — the color bandwidth meter — is a small program to display the traffic currently flowing through your network devices.
Current Stable Version :- 0.1
Project Home Page :- http://www.isotton.com/utils/cbm/
dstat
Dstat is a versatile replacement for vmstat, iostat, netstat, nfsstat and ifstat. Dstat overcomes some of their limitations and adds some extra features, more counters and flexibility. Dstat is handy for monitoring systems during performance tuning tests, benchmarks or troubleshooting.
Current Stable Version :- 0.6.4
Project Home Page :- http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/dstat/
EtherApe
EtherApe is a graphical network monitor for Unix modeled after etherman. Featuring link layer, ip and TCP modes, it displays network activity graphically. Hosts and links change in size with traffic. Color coded protocols display.
Current Stable Version :- 0.9.7
Project Home Page :- http://etherape.sourceforge.net/
gdesklets
gDesklets is a system for bringing mini programs (desklets), such as weather forecasts, news tickers, system information displays, or music player controls, onto your desktop, where they are sitting there in a symbiotic relationship of eye candy and usefulness. The possibilities are really endless and they are always there to serve you whenever you need them, just one key-press away. The system is not restricted to one desktop environment, but currently works on most of the modern Unix desktops (including GNOME, KDE, Xfce).
Project Home Page :- http://www.gdesklets.de/
GKrellM
GKrellM is a single process stack of system monitors which supports applying themes to match its appearance to your window manager, Gtk, or any other theme.
Current Stable Version :- 2.2.10
Project Home Page :- http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html
ipband
ipband is a pcap based IP traffic monitor. It tallies per-subnet traffic and bandwidth usage and starts detailed logging if specified threshold for the specific subnet is exceeded. If traffic has been high for a certain period of time, the report for that subnet is generated which can be appended to a file or e-mailed. When bandwidth usage drops below the threshold, detailed logging for the subnet is stopped and memory is freed.
Current Stable Version :- 0.8
Project Home Page :- http://ipband.sourceforge.net/
iftop
iftop does for network usage what top does for CPU usage. It listens to network traffic on a named interface and displays a table of current bandwidth usage by pairs of hosts. Handy for answering the question "why is our ADSL link so slow".
Current Stable Version :- 0.17
Project Home Page :- http://www.ex-parrot.com/pdw/iftop/
iperf
Iperf is a tool to measure maximum TCP bandwidth, allowing the tuning of various parameters and UDP characteristics. Iperf reports bandwidth, delay jitter, datagram loss.
Current Stable Version :- 2.0.2
Project Home Page :- http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf/
ipfm
IP Flow Meter (IPFM) is a bandwidth analysis tool, that measures how much bandwidth specified hosts use on their Internet link.
Current Stable Version :- 0.11.5
Project Home Page :- http://robert.cheramy.net/ipfm/
ifstat
ifstat is a tool to report network interfaces bandwith just like vmstat/iostat do for other system counters.
Current Stable Version :- 1.1
Project Home Page :- http://gael.roualland.free.fr/ifstat/
ibmonitor
ibmonitor is an interactive linux console application which shows bandwidth consumed and total data transferred on all interfaces.
Current Stable Version :- 1.4
Project Home Page :- http://ibmonitor.sourceforge.net/
ipaudit
IPAudit monitors network activity on a network by host, protocol and port.IPAudit listens to a network device in promiscuous mode, and records every connection between two ip addresses. A unique connection is determined by the ip addresses of the two machines, the protocol used between them, and the port numbers (if they are communicating via udp or tcp).
Current Stable Version :- 3.0.0
Project Home Page :- http://ipaudit.sourceforge.net/
IPTraf
IPTraf is a console-based network statistics utility for Linux. It gathers a variety of figures such as TCP connection packet and byte counts, interface statistics and activity indicators, TCP/UDP traffic breakdowns, and LAN station packet and byte counts.
Current Stable Version :- 0.95
Project Home Page :- http://iptraf.seul.org/
IFStatus
IFStatus was developed for Linux users that are usually in console mode. It is a simple, easy to use program for displaying commonly needed / wanted statistics in real time about ingoing and outgoing traffic of multiple network interfaces that is usually hard to find, with a simple and effecient view. It is the substitute for PPPStatus and EthStatus projects.
Current Stable Version :- 1.1.0
Project Home Page :- http://ifstatus.sourceforge.net/graphic/index.html
jnettop
Jnettop is a traffic visualiser, which captures traffic going through the host it is running from and displays streams sorted by bandwidth they use.
Current Stable Version :- 0.13.0
Project Home Page :- http://jnettop.kubs.info/wiki/
MRTG
The Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) is a tool to monitor the traffic load on network links. MRTG generates HTML pages containing PNG images which provide a LIVE visual epresentation of this traffic.
Current Stable Version :- 2.15.1
Project Home Page :- http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/
moodss
moodss is a graphical monitoring application. It is modular so that the code accessing the monitored objects is completely separate from the application core. The core takes care of managing modules (loading and unloading),displaying modules data through sortable tables and diverse graphical viewers, handling user set threshold conditions with email alerts, recording and browsing data history from a database.moodss can even predict the future, using sophisticated statistical methods and artificial neural networks, and therefore be used for capacity planning.
Current Stable Version :- 21.5
Project Home Page :- http://moodss.sourceforge.net/
monitord
A lightweight (distributed?) network security monitor for TCP/IP+Ethernet LANs. It will capture certain network events and record them in a relational database. The recorded data will be available for analysis through a CGI based interface.
Current Stable Version :- 4.0
Project Home Page :- http://sourceforge.net/projects/monitord/
Netmrg
NetMRG is a tool for network monitoring, reporting, and graphing. Based on RRDTOOL, the best of open source graphing systems, NetMRG is capable of creating graphs of any parameter of your network.
Current Stable Version :- 0.18.2
Project Home Page :- http://www.netmrg.net
nload
nload is a console application which monitors network traffic and bandwidth usage in real time. It visualizes the in-and outgoing traffic using two graphs and provides additional info like total amount of transfered data and min/max network usage.
Current Stable Version :- 0.6.0
Project Home Page :- http://www.roland-riegel.de/nload/index.html
ntop
ntop shows the current network usage. It displays a list of hosts that are currently using the network and reports information concerning the IP (Internet Protocol) and Fibre Channel (FC) traffic generated by each host. The traffic is sorted according to host and protocol. Default protocol list (this is user configurable).
Current Stable Version :- 3.2
Project Home Page :- http://www.ntop.org
netspeed
Netspeed is just a little GNOME-applet that shows how much traffic occurs on a specified network device (for example eth0). You get the best impression of it, if you look at the screenshots below.
Current Stable Version :- 0.14
Project Home Page :- http://www.wh-hms.uni-ulm.de/~mfcn/netspeed/
Netwatch
Netwatch is a Linux program created to aid in monitoring Network Connections. It is based on a program called "statnet" but has been substantially modified for its Ethernet emphasis. It is a dynamic program which displays the Ethernet status based each the connection's activity. It has the capability of monitoring hundreds of site statistics simultaneously. The connection's port number (Well Known Service) and destination address are available as well. There are options which allow router statistics to be measured on simple networks (with one router). External network communication is counted and transfer rates are displayed.
Current Stable Version :- 1.0c
Project Home Page :- http://www.slctech.org/~mackay/netwatch.html
NOCOL
NOCOL is a popular system and network monitoring (network management) software that runs on Unix systems and can monitor network and system devices. It uses a very simple architecture and is very flexible for adding new network management modules
Current Stable Version :- 4.3.1
Project Home Page :- http://www.netplex-tech.com/nocol/
NeTraMet
NeTraMet is an open-source (GPL) implementation of the RTFM architecture for Network Traffic Flow Measurement,developed and supported by Nevil Brownlee at the University of Auckland. Nevil also developed a version of NeTraMet which uses the CoralReef library to read packet headers. This 'CoralReef NeTraMet meter' can work with any CoralReef data source; it has been tested on both CAIDA and NLANR trace files, and on DAG and Apptel ATM interface cards.
Current Stable Version :- 43
Project Home Page :- http://freshmeat.net/projects/netramet/
NetPIPE
NetPIPE is a protocol independent performance tool that visually represents the network performance under a variety of conditions. It performs simple ping-pong tests, bouncing messages of increasing size between two processes, whether across a network or within an SMP system. Message sizes are chosen at regular intervals, and with slight perturbations, to provide a complete test of the communication system. Each data point involves many ping-pong tests to provide an accurate timing. Latencies are calculated by dividing the round trip time in half for small messages ( <64>
Current Stable Version :- 3.6.2
Project Home Page :- http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/netpipe/
netperf
Netperf is a benchmark that can be use to measure various aspect of networking performance. The primary foci are bulk (aka unidirectional) data transfer and request/response performance using either TCP or UDP and the Berkeley Sockets interface. As of this writing, the tests available either unconditionally or conditionally
Current Stable Version :- 2.4.3
Project Home Page :- http://www.netperf.org/netperf/
potion
This is a console utility which will listen on an interface using libpcap, aggregate the traffic into flows and display the top (as many as can fit on your screen) flows with their average throughput. A flow is identified ip protocol, source ip, source port, destination ip, destination port, and type of service flag.
Current Stable Version :- 0.0.4
pktstat
Display a real-time list of active connections seen on a network interface, and how much bandwidth is being used by what. Partially decodes HTTP and FTP protocols to show what filename is being transferred. X11 application names are also shown. Entries hang around on the screen for a few seconds so you can see what just happened. Also accepts filter expressions á la tcpdump.
Current Stable Version :- 1.8.3
Project Home Page :- http://www.adaptive-enterprises.com.au/~d/software/pktstat/
RTG
RTG is a flexible, scalable, high-performance SNMP statistics monitoring system. It is designed for enterprises and service providers who need to collect time-series SNMP data from a large number of targets quickly. All collected data is inserted into a relational database that provides a common interface for applications to generate complex queries and reports. RTG includes utilities that generate configuration and target files, traffic reports, 95th percentile reports and graphical data plots. These utilities may be used to produce a web-based interface to the data.
Current Stable Version :- 0.7.4
Project Home Page :- http://rtg.sourceforge.net/
speedometer
Monitor network traffic or speed/progress of a file transfer. The program can be used for cases like: how long it will take for my 38MB transfer to finish, how quickly is another transfer going, How fast is the upstream on this ADSL line and how fast can I write data to my filesystem.
Current Stable Version :- 2.4
Project Home Page :- http://excess.org/speedometer/
Spong
Spong is a simple system-monitoring package written in Perl. It features client based monitoring, monitoring of network services, results displayed via the Web or console, history of problems, and flexible messaging when problems occur.
Current Stable Version :- 2.7.6
Project Home Page :- http://spong.sourceforge.net/
slurm
slurm started as a pppstatus port to FreeBSD. As I ripped off several functions
Current Stable Version :- 0.3.3
Project Home Page :- http://www.wormulon.net/projects/slurm
SNIPS
SNIPS (System & Network Integrated Polling Software) is a system and network monitoring software that runs on Unix systems and can monitor network and system devices. It is capable of monitoring DNS, NTP, TCP or web ports, host performance, syslogs, radius servers, BGP peers, etc. New monitors can be added easily (via a C or Perl API).
Current Stable Version :- 1.1
Project Home Page :- http://www.navya.com/software/snips/
tcpflow
tcpflow is a program that captures data transmitted as part of TCP connections (flows), and stores the data in a way that is convenient for protocol analysis or debugging. A program like tcpdump shows a summary of packets seen on the wire, but usually doesn't store the data that's actually being transmitted. In contrast, tcpflow reconstructs the actual data streams and stores each flow in a separate file for later analysis. tcpflow understands TCP sequence numbers and will correctly reconstruct data streams regardless of retransmissions or out-of-order delivery.
Current Stable Version :- 0.21
Project Home Page :- http://www.circlemud.org/~jelson/software/tcpflow/
vnstat
vnStat is a network traffic monitor for Linux that keeps a log of daily network traffic for the selected interface(s).vnStat isn't a packet sniffer. The traffic information is analyzed from the /proc -filesystem, so vnStat can be used without root permissions. However at least a 2.2.x kernel is required.
Current Stable Version :- 1.4
Project Home Page :- http://humdi.net/vnstat/
WMND
Shows a graph of incoming/outgoing traffic, activity indicators for rx/tx and current/maximum rate for rx/tx in bytes or packets.Tailored for use with WindowMaker, it will as well work with any other window manager though.
Current Stable Version :- 0.4.6
Project Home Page :- http://dockapps.org/file.php/id/178
Read More......Monday, 19 March 2007
How to Install Beryl with latest nvidia drivers in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
Beryl is an OpenGL accelerated desktop that seeks to provide a free, open source desktop experience to the community that reflects the wishes of the users. Above all else, the project seeks to listen to and respond to the requests of the user base.
Beryl is a combined window manager and composite manager written in C using OpenGL to provide acceleration. It is designed to be highly flexible, extensible, and portable, all the while keeping in mind that the users know how they want their desktops to act better than we do. With Beryl the rather esoteric concept of the computer desktop is brought down to a more human level, allowing for a more native and intuitive understanding of your workspace.
Nvidia have released their 9xxx series drivers.Tis allows compiz/beryl to now run directly on an x server (xorg7.1) without separate aiglx or xgl.
Note:- First you need to remove all existing xgl/aiglx from your system
Preparing Your system
You need to make sure you system is up-to-date using the following
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Adding Source list
you need to edit /etc/apt/sources.list file
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line for the latest beryl (Both i386&64 bit)
deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org feisty main
Save file and exit
Copy the key file using the following command
wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- sudo apt-key add -
Now you need to update the source list using the following command
sudo apt-get update
Install nvidia drivers in Ubuntu Feisty
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx
sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals --composite
Now you need to restart your X by logging out and in or by pressing ctrl+alt+backspace
Install Beryl in Ubuntu Feisty
sudo apt-get install beryl emerald-themes
Now you need to type the following command in terminal or run application box by pressing alt+f2
beryl-manager
New Sleek Usplash Proposal for Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)
Here is New Sleek Usplash Proposal for Ubuntu Feisty Fawn.It is mainly composed of the ubuntu logo and the very nice forum coffee beans,which fill up during boot/shutdown.
Download new usplash image file from here
Unpack it using the following command
tar -xzvf usplash-theme-beans.tar.gzCopy the file corresponding to your display aspect
sudo cp usplash-theme-beans_4_3.so /usr/lib/usplashEdit the usplash symlink to point to the new file
sudo ln -sf /etc/alternatives/usplash-artwork.so /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-beans_4_3.soUpdate your boot image
sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)If you want return to the normal usplash following steps
Edit the usplash symlink to point to the original file:sudo ln -sf /etc/alternatives/usplash-artwork.so /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-ubuntu.so
Update your boot image using the following commandsudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)
After Completing the above process you should see the New Usplash as follows
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Upgrade Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) to Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)
Ubuntu 7.04 is the current Stable version of the Ubuntu operating system. The common name given to this release from the time of its early development was “Feisty Fawn”.
1) Using GUI
2) Using apt-get
Upgrading Ubuntu Edgy to Ubuntu Feisty
Method 1 - Using GUIIf you want to upgrade using GUI use the following command
gksu “update-manager -c ”“-c” switch tells it to look for upgrades at all.
You should see the following screen here Now you can see 7.04 is available for upgrade click on upgrade
Now you should see the release notes as follows here you need to click on upgrade
Once you click on upgrade you might get the error "Authentication failed"
You need to fix the above error for this open the terminal and type the "gpg" and press enter once you see the following message
gpg:Go ahead and type your message ...
Now you should see the following screen downloading upgrade tool
You need to enter root password and click ok
Preparing the upgrade in progress
You need to confirm the upgrade process by clicking "Start Upgrade"
Download in progress for all the required packages for Upgrade
Installation in progress
If you click on Terminal to see detailed installation in progress
Cleaning Up is in Progress
You need to restart the system to complete the Upgrade by clicking "Restart Now"
Method 2 - Using apt-getEdit your /etc/apt/sources.list as root. Change every occurrence of edgy to feisty.
Use any prefered editor. If you have a CD-ROM line in your file, then remove it.sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
oruse the following Simple command
sudo sed -e ’s/\edgy/ feisty/g’ -i /etc/apt/sources.listNow you need to update the source list using the following command
sudo apt-get updateUpgrade using the following command
sudo apt-get dist-upgradeDouble check your process was finished properly using the following commd
sudo apt-get -f installsudo dpkg --configure -a
Testing Your Upgrade
You can check the ubuntu version installed using the following commandsudo lsb_release -a
Output Looks like belowDistributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu feisty (development branch)
Release: 7.04
Codename: feisty
Just type the following command in your terminal
cat /etc/issueOutput Lokks like below
Ubuntu feisty (development branch) \n \lRead More......
Friday, 16 March 2007
Backup and Restore Ubuntu System Using DAR and KDAR (DAR Frontend)
Dar is a shell command that makes backup of a directory tree and files. Its features include splitting archives over several files, CDs, ZIPs, or floppies, compression, full or differential backups, strong encryption, proper saving and restoration of hard links and extended attributes, remote backup using pipes and external command (such as ssh), and rearrangement of the "slices" of an existing archive. It can now run commands between slices, encrypt archives, and quickly retrieve individual files from differential and full backups. Dar also has external GUI like kdar for Linux,thanks to the well documented API.
Kdar is GUI for dar.KDar is the “KDE Disk archiver”, a disk-based archiving and backup utility.KDar is built around the “disk archive library” by Denis Corbin, and is similar in function to his “DAR” program. DAR is somewhat analogous to the “tape archiver” shell command “tar”, but is better suited for backups onto disk-based media, such as CD-R's, DVDs,Jazz, Zip, other hard-drives, etc.
KDar can perform differential backups, which means that it can quickly store the differences between a recent full backup and the current state of your data.KDar now supports strong encryption based on the blowfish algorithm.
DAR Current Stable :- 2.3.3
Project Home Page :- http://dar.linux.free.fr/
Kdar Current Stable :- 3.0.0
Project Home Page :- http://kdar.sourceforge.net/
For dapper Users
sudo apt-get install dar kdarFor Edgy Users
sudo apt-get install dar kdarkdar Edgy Problem with Solution
When you try to install kdar you will get the following errorThe following packages have unmet dependencies.
kdar: Depends: libdar3c2a but it is not installable E: Broken packages
If you are seeing the above error you need to download libdar3c2a from dapper packages and install this package.
Solution2You can also use the following procedure when you do this you need to be very careful what you are doing.
you can edit the /etc/apt/sources.list filesudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following linedeb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe
save and exit the file.Now update the souce list using the following command
sudo apt-get updateInstall libdar3c2a from dapper packages using the following command
sudo apt-get install libdar3c2aOnce this finished the installation you need to remove the line we have added in /etc/apt/sources.list for dapper save the file and exit
Now you need to update the source list using the following commandsudo apt-get update
This will complete the installation now if you want to open the application go to Applications--->Accessories--->KDar(Disk-Based Archive Tool)
Once it opens you should see the following screen here select basic setup and click on next
Here if you want to use KDE Wallet to store your password enable this otherwise click on finish
Now you need to define where you want to archive directory and click ok
If that directory you choose doesn't exist it will create for you select yes
Dar is Loading
Once it opens the complete application you should see the following screen this is kdar main screen.Below the titlebar are KDar's Menubar and Toolbar. The Menubar allows you to open and create archives, operate on them, and get information about KDar. The Toolbar gives you one-click access to many of KDar's features, and you can configure it to your liking by right-clicking on it.
Creating archives Using KDar
To create an archive, select "Archive->Create" (at bottom of menu).
To load a creation profile, click the Restore profile button and select the profile. You probably haven't saved a profile yet, so just click the Next > button.
Now you need to enter the archive name and you can choose your choice of name but recommended one is descriptive you can see this in the following screen
The “root directory” is the filesystem's top-level directory that you want to archive. KDar will consider all directories and files below this directory for inclusion in the archive, but no files above or adjacent to this directory.Here Choose the archive's root directory.
Creating full system backups can take several hours on modern filesystems. KDar can optionally store the difference between the current state of the filesystem and the state of the filesystem when you last created a full backup. The new archive is called a "differential" archive. Performing a differential backup can take considerably less time than doing a full backup, and the resulting archive usually takes up much less space on your filesystem or storage media.
If you want to make a differential backup, enable the differential backup checkbox, and select the reference archive.The reference archive can be from a previous full backup, a previous differential backup, or an archive catalog. Archive catalogs contain only the basic archive information, such as the contents, but are equivalent to regular archives as far as differential creation is concerned.
Leave the checkbox unchecked if you're making a new archive (e.g., a full backup).
Select "Archive->Restore"
You should see the following screen
Here you need to select the archive you want to open select .1.dar and click on open
Now you need to choose a directory to extract your archive into and click on folder icon to choose a directory
If you want more documentation about kdar check here and if you want to use dar from command line check dar documentation here
Read More......
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Secure Ubuntu Desktop with Firestarter Firewall
Firestarter is an Open Source visual firewall program. The software aims to combine ease of use with powerful features, therefore serving both Linux desktop users and system administrators.
Current Stable :- 1.0.3
Project Hone Page :- http://www.fs-security.com/
Firestarter Features
- Open Source software, available free of charge
- User friendly, easy to use, graphical interface
- A wizard walks you through setting up your firewall on your first time
- Suitable for use on desktops, servers and gateways
- Real-time firewall event monitor shows intrusion attempts as they happen
- Enables Internet connection sharing, optionally with DHCP service for the clients
- Allows you to define both inbound and outbound access policy
- Open or stealth ports, shaping your firewalling with just a few mouse clicks
- Enable port forwarding for your local network in just seconds
- Option to whitelist or blacklist traffic
- Real time firewall events view
- View active network connections, including any traffic routed through the firewall
- Advanced Linux kernel tuning features provide protection from flooding, broadcasting and spoofing
- Support for tuning ICMP parameters to stop Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
- Support for tuning ToS parameters to improve services for connected client computers
- Ability to hook up user defined scripts or rulesets before or after firewall activation
- Supports Linux Kernels 2.4 and 2.6
If you want to install firestarter firewall run the following commannd
sudo apt-get instal firestarterThis will complete the installation
If you want to open fire starter go to System--->Administration--->Firestarter
export EDITOR=gedit && sudo visudo
Now you need to add the following line in /etc/sudoers file%ruchi ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/firestarter
Replace %ruchi by your the name of the user or the group which can use sudo and do the modification.Now you can test this using the following procedure
sudo - Ksudo /usr/sbin/firestarter
When it try to open it should not prompt for passwordFinally you need to add firestarter to startup programs list from system---> Preferences--->Sessions you should see the following screen in this you need to click on startup programs and click on add you should see a popup box prompting for startup command in this you need to enter the following command and click ok two times.
sudo /usr/sbin/firestarter
Working with Firewall PolicyFirestarted is having default policy does the following
New inbound connections from the Internet to the firewall or client hosts are blocked.The firewall host is freely allowed to establish new connections.
All client hosts are allowed to establish new connections to the Internet, but not to the firewall host.Traffic from the Internet in response to connection requests from the firewall or client hosts is allowed back in through the firewall.
This policy allows normal Internet usage such as web browsing and e-mail on the secured hosts, but blocks any attempts to access network services from the outside and shields the local network.Creating your own Policy
Before Creating new policy you need to know inbound and outbound policyInbound policy
All inbound network traffic that is not in response to a connection established by a secured host is always denied. User created inbound policy is therefore permissive by nature and consist of criteria that when met lift the restrictions on the creation of new incoming connections. Changes to inbound policy are made on the inbound policy section of the policy page in Firestarter.Outbound policy
The purpose of outbound traffic policy is to specify the types of network traffic that are allowed out from the secured network to the Internet. Firestarter has two modes of operation when it comes to implementing outbound policy, a permissive (which is the default) and a restrictive mode.If you wan to create new policy you need to click on policy tab in this you need to make sure which policy you want in editing selection (inbound or outbound) in this example i have selected inbound traffic policy after that from the top menu click on policy and click on add you should see this in the following screen
Now it will popup a box asking for allow coonections from ip,host or network,enter the comment and click on add
The same way you need to add the outbound traffic policy you can see this in the following screen
Firestarter version details
For more detailed documentation check Firestarter usermanual here
Read More......
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
Package Management with Synaptic Package Manager in Ubuntu
Synaptic is a graphical user interface (GUI) for managing software packages on Debian-based distributions. If you are using Debian or Ubuntu you will easily find Synaptic in the System Tools menu or in the Administration menu. Synaptic uses the GTK graphic libraries . So, if you are using GNOME on your debian-based distro you will probably have Synaptic installed as well. Synaptic is a graphical package management program for apt. It provides the same features as the apt-get command line utility with a GUI front-end based on Gtk+.
Now we will see how to add repositories,install,remove and update software packages Using Synaptic Package Manager
Adding repositories Using Synaptic
To Open Synaptic Package manager go to System--->Administration--->Synaptic package manager
once it opens you should see the following screen asking for the password for root or equivalent users.To manage package installations you need administration privileges; so you need to either be root or to authenticate as such.
Once it open the Synaptic Package Manager you should see the following screen.The main window is divided into three sections that is a package browser on the left, the package list on the upper right, and package details on the lower right. The status bar shows you the system state at a glance.
Now if you want to add repositories you need to go to settings--->Repositories you can see this in the following screen
Once it opens the Repositories menu you should see the following screen in this screen you can select repositories,internet updates,Third party,Authentication and statistics.Now we will see one by one first tab is ubuntu 6.10 repositories you need to select which one you want to add like main,universe,multiverse,restricted,source code and the name of the server you want to download from
Now we will see each one what it means if you want more information check here
Main Repositories
Restricted Repositories
The restricted component is reserved for software that is very commonly used, and which is supported by the Ubuntu team even though it is not available under a completely free licence. Please note that it may not be possible to provide complete support for this software since we are unable to fix the software ourselves, but can only forward problem reports to the actual authors.Universe Repositories
The universe component is a snapshot of the free, open source, and Linux world. In universe you can find almost every piece of open source software, and software available under a variety of less open licences, all built automatically from a variety of public sources. All of this software is compiled against the libraries and using the tools that form part of main, so it should install and work well with the software in main, but it comes with no guarantee of security fixes and support. The universe component includes thousands of pieces of software. Through universe, users are able to have the diversity and flexibility offered by the vast open source world on top of a stable Ubuntu core.Multiverse Repositories
The "multiverse" component contains software that is "not free", which means the licensing requirements of this software do not meet the Ubuntu "main" Component Licence Policy.Now if you click on Internet Updates tab you should see the following screen here you need to select what updates you want to run,when to update these updates and you want to install these updates
Now if you click on Third party tab you can enter third Party repositories and cdrom repositories here
If you want to add new source click on add you should see the following screen here you need to enter your source and click on add source
Next one is if you click on authentication tab here you can import the authentication keys for the packages you can click on import key file to import
Final Tab is Statistics this is only for popularity contest
After finishing all your settings you need to click on close once you click on close.you should see the following screen with the information saying you need to click on reload button to take effects of your new settings
Now you need to click on reload button located at the top panel of Synaptic manager or simply you can press or press Ctrl + R
You can see all the required packages are downloading in progress once it finish the download you are ready with your new Repositories list.
Ubuntu Dapper users
If you are using ubuntu 6.06 (dapper) and other versions when you open settings--->Repositories you can see this in the following screen under installation media tab
For example you want to install a package called dia-gnome for this you need to select the package and right click on that you should see the following screen here you need to select mark for installation or press Ctrl + I
This will popup a window saying that some of the other packages also required changes click on mark
You can see this package is marked for installation with an arrow mark next to the check box
Now you need to apply these changes by clicking on "Apply" in the toolbar or press Ctrl + P
Now it will show you the packages are going to be installed here you need to click on apply
Downloading all the required packages in progress
Installing the package is in progress
If you want to see the details of the installation package you can see in the following screen
Changes are applied successfully windows and click on close
Remove a Package Using Synaptic Package Manager
Now if you want to remove installed package you need to select that package and right click on that you need to select Mark for removal option
You need to Click Reload or press Ctrl + R to make Synaptic aware of the latest updates.
Now you need to Right-click on the package you want to upgrade and choose Mark for Upgrade from the context menu, or press Ctrl + U.
A dialog box appears with a summary of changes that will be made. Confirm the changes by clicking on Apply.
This will start the download and installation in progress you can see in the following screen
Changes are applied successfully windows and click on close
Search a Package Using Synaptic Package Manager
If you want to search a package you need to click on search option in synaptic tool bar
The best way to install new software in Ubuntu is to be connected to the Internet, but sometimes this is not possible. When you install Ubuntu the first time, your install CD should have been added as a repository.
Go to Settings--->Repositories
You now can download the entire Universe and Multiverse repositories on a set of DVD's and CD's from here
This tools is very simple to use for new users how to install,remove,upgrade packages Using Synaptic Package Manager
Read More......
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
How to Enable and Disable Ubuntu Root Password
Ubuntu is one of the few Linux distributions out there that will not enable the root account.If you want to do something with root permission on the console you have to type sudo before the command.
sudo" means superuser do. "sudo" will prompt for "Password:". Please specify user password
As you have noticed during the Ubuntu installation there was no question about the root password, as you might have been used to see during other Linux distribution installation process.Because of this your root accout is inactive.
If you want to enable root account (which is not recommended) enter the following command.
$sudo passwd root
This will prompt for a new root password and once you confirm it, you can start using the root account to login.
If you want to disable root account in ubuntu you need to lock the root account by using the following command
$sudo passwd -l root
If you want to work on a root console you'd better use the following command
$sudo -i
Read More......Monday, 12 March 2007
Media Players Available for Ubuntu Linux
Media player is a term typically used to describe computer software for playing back multimedia files. Most software media players support an array of media formats, including both audio and video files.Some media players focus only on audio or video and are known as audio players and video players respectively. The producers of these players usually focus on providing a better user experience as they are specifically tailored toward the media type.
I want to give the list of media players available for ubuntu users with installation instructions.
Beep Media PlayerMP, or Beep Media Player, is a compact media player that was originally forked from XMMS with the goal of porting XMMS to GTK2 and make use of more modern desktop standards. The original XMMS is based on GTK 1.2, which is now deprecated for roughly 4 years, and was deprecated at the time of the fork for approximately 2 years. This, and the fact that the developers were developing XMMS under a mostly cathedral-style model led M. Derezynski to fork BMP from XMMS.
Current Stable Version :- 0.9.7.1Project Home Page :- http://bmp.beep-media-player.org/index.php/BMP_Homepage
Install Beep Media Player in Ubuntusudo aptitude install beep-media-player
This will complete the installation.Now if you want to access this application go to Applications--->Sound&Video--->Beep Media Player
Import, organize, play, and share your music using Banshee's simple, powerful interface.Rip CDs, play and sync your iPod, create playlists, and burn audio and MP3 CDs. Most portable music devices are supported.Banshee also has support for podcasting, smart playlists, music recommendations, and much more.
Current Stable Version :- 0.11.5Project Home Page :- http://bmp.beep-media-player.org/index.php/BMP_Homepage
Install Banshee in Ubuntusudo aptitude install banshee
This will complete the installation.Now if you want to access this application go to Applications--->Sound&Video--- >Banshee Music Player
Rhythmbox is an integrated music management application, originally inspired by Apple's iTunes. It is free software,designed to work well under the GNOME Desktop, and based on the powerful GStreamer media framework.
Current Stable Version :- 0.9Project Home Page :- http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/
Install rhythmbox in Ubuntusudo apt-get install rhythmbox
This will complete the installation.Now if you want to access this application go to Applications--->Sound&Video--->Rhythmbox Music Player
Listen is a Music player and management for GNOME Features: metadata edition, ipod management, audioscrobbler, wikipedia information, lyrics, global statistiques, burn and AudioCD, convert audio file, webradio, lastfm web service, download album cover.
Current Stable Version :- 0.5b1Project Home Page :- http://listengnome.free.fr/
Install Listen Music Player in UbuntuFor Dapper Users
Edit the /etc/apt/sources.list filesudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following lines save and exit the file.deb http://theli.free.fr/packages/ dapper listen
deb-src http://theli.free.fr/packages/ dapper listenNow you need to update the source list using the following command
sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install listen
For Edgy UsersYou need to make sure that universe repositories and use the following command
sudo apt-get install listenThis will complete the installation.Now if you want to access this application go to Applications--->Sound&Video--->Listen Music Player
Listen Music Player is loading
Once it opens you should see the following screen
Listen Music Player Version Details
XMMS
XMMS is a multimedia player for unix systems. XMMS stands for X MultiMedia System and can play media files such as MP3, MOD's, WAV and others with the use of Input plugins.XMMS is mainly targeted at music playback, but through thirdparty plugins some rudimentary video capabilities exists,but there are much better systems other than XMMS for video support.Current Stable Version :- 1.2.0
Project Home Page :- http://www.xmms.org/Install xmms in Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install xmmsThis will complete the installation.Now if you want to access this application go to Applications--->Sound&Video--- >XMMS Music Player
Once it opens you should see the following screen
quod libet
Quod Libet is a GTK+-based audio player application written using the Python programming language. Its main design goal is to provide a way for users to organize their music library however they want.One of Quod Libet's unique features is the ability to search and construct playlists based on search terms or regularexpressions. It also scales well, making it ideal for music libraries with thousands of songs. Quod Libet includes a tag editor (also available separately as Ex Falso) which can alter the metadata of groups of files.Current Stable Version :- 0.24
Install quodlibet in Ubuntusudo apt-get install quodlibet
This will complete the installation.Now if you want to access this application go to Applications--->Sound&Video--->Quod Libet
The VLC media player is an open source media player, distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is a highly portable multimedia player that supports many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs and various streaming protocols. It is able to stream over networks and to transcode multimedia files and save them into various different formats.It is one of the most platform-independent players available, with versions for Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD, Windows CE, and Solaris.
Current Stable Version :- 0.8.6
Install VLC Media player in Ubuntu
You need to make sure that you have a "universe" mirror in your /etc/apt/sources.listsudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-esdThis will complete the installation
If you want to open VLC You need to go to Applications--->Sound&Video--->VLC Media Player
If you want to download VLC Media Player Skins check here
Install VLC Plugin for Mozilla Firefoxsudo apt-get install mozilla-plugin-vlc
Mplayer
MPlayer is a movie and animation player that supports a wide range of codecs and file formats, including MPEG 1/2/4,DivX 3/4/5, Windows Media 7/8/9, RealAudio/Video up to 9, Quicktime 5/6, and Vivo 1/2. It has many MX/SSE(2)/3Dnow(Ex) optimized native audio and video codecs, but allows using XAnim's and RealPlayer's binary codec plugins, and Win32 codec DLLs. It has basic VCD/DVD playback functionality, including DVD subtitles, but supports many text-based subtitle formats too. For video output, nearly every existing interface is supported. It's also able to convert any supported files to raw/divx/mpeg4 AVI (pcm/mp3 audio), and even video grabbing from V4L devices.
Current Stable :- 0.93
Project Home Page:- http://www.mplayerhq.hu
Install Mplayer in Ubuntu DapperYou need to add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list file
gedit /etc/apt/sources.listenter these two lines and save your file
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper universe multiversedeb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper universe multiverse
Install Mplayer in Ubuntu Edgy eftYou need to add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list file
gedit /etc/apt/sources.listenter these two lines and save your file
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy universe multiversedeb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy universe multiverse
Now you need to run the following command to update the source listsudo apt-get update
Install mplayer using the following commandsudo apt-get install mplayer
if you want to open mplayer just typegmplayer
orYou can Open from Applications--->Sound&Video---> Mplayer Movie Player
Once you open the mplayer you should see the mplayer opened in the following screen
sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer
SongbirdSongbird™ is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like Firefox®, it is built from Mozilla®, cross-platform and open source.
Current Stable Version :- 0.2.5
Project Home Page :- http://www.songbirdnest.com/
Install songbird in Ubuntu SystemFirst thing is you need to Download songbird form here
Once you download the songbird you can see this file Songbird_0_2_5_linux-i686.tar.gz now you can move this to /opt directory using the following commandsudo mv Songbird_0_2_5_linux-i686.tar.gz /opt
Go to the /opt directory and now you need to extract this file using the following commandtar xzvf Songbird_0_2_5_linux-i686.tar.gz
Now you should see Songbird directoryNow you need to change owner permissions on sonbird directory using the following command if you want to run as perticular user
sudo chown -R ruchi:ruchi SongbirdYou can replace the ruchi with the name of the user you want to run.
Now go in to the songbird directory and run songbird using the following commandcd Songbird
Now you are in /opt/Songbird directory run the following command to run songbird./Songbird
This will open songbird application.Download Songbird Icon
If you want to create application menu you need to have songbird icon for this you can download from here under buttons section in this example i have downloaded the button_pickup.png and now you need to rename this icon as songbird using the following commandmv button_pickup.png songbird.png
Now we need to place this icon in correct place i.e /usr/share/pixmaps using the following commandsudo cp songbird.png /usr/share/pixmaps
Creating Application Menu For SonbirdNow we need to create a Application Menu for this Right click on Applications at the top of your desktop and select “Edit Menus“ option you can see this in the following screen
This will open Alacarte Menu Editor Once you open this you should see the following screen
On left side of the Alacarte Menu Editor select "Sound&Audio" and on the right side you need to click on "New Item" button
Once you click on new item button you should see the following screen here you need to select songbird icon, name, Comment and command options
First thing is click on "no icon" tab to upload songbird icon you should see the following screen here you need to select the icon image location as /usr/share/pixmaps/songbird.png and click on ok
Next You need to Name as Songbird and in comment field enter musicplayer or you can leave blank.In command option you need to select /opt/Songbird/Songbird and click on ok
After entering all the details you should see the following screen and click ok
Now you should see the songbird icon under show item and click on close
Now we need to open songbird from application menu for this go to Applications--->Sound&Video--->Songbird
First time you should see the songbird license screen and tick the box next to i agree and click on I Agree
Songbird welcome,optional extensions,privacy screen and click on ok
Songbird Music Player in Action
Songbird Music Player version details
That's it your songbird music player is ready to play for music and it is really worth to install and try to play your music.I am sure you would love it.
Songbird ExtensionsIf you want to install Songbird Extensions check here
ExaileExaile is a media player aiming to be similar to KDE's AmaroK, but for GTK+. It incorporates many of the cool things from AmaroK (and other media players) like automatic fetching of album art, handling of large libraries, lyrics fetching, artist/album information via the wikipedia, last.fm support, optional iPod support (assuming you have python -gpod installed).
In addition, Exaile also includes a built in shoutcast directory browser, tabbed playlists (so you can have more than one playlist open at a time), blacklisting of tracks (so they don't get scanned into your library), downloading of guitar tablature from fretplay.com, and submitting played tracks on your iPod to last.fm.Current Stable :- 0.2.9b
Project Home Page :- http://www.exaile.org
Preparing your system
First you need to install the following packagessudo apt-get install python-pyvorbis python-pysqlite2 python-mutagen python-pyogg python-elementtree
Install Exaile media player in Ubuntu EdgyFirst you need to download the latest version of Exaile media player .deb package from here using the following command
wget http://www.exaile.org/files/exaile_0.2.9b_i386.debNow you have exaile_0.2.9b_i386.deb package you need to install this package using the following command
sudo dpkg -i exaile_0.2.9b_i386.debIf you want to install exaile media player from source list use the following procedure
Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list filesudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line save and exit the filedeb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/ edgy exaile-svn
Then type this in a terminalNow you need to copy the key using the following command
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/8434D43A.gpg -O- sudo apt-key add -Update the source list
sudo apt-get updateInstall exaile media player using the following command
sudo apt-get install exaileif you only want the stable versions, you can use the following line in /etc/apt/sources.list file and following the above procedure to install.
eb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 edgy exaileThis will complete the installation.If you want to open the application go to Applications--->Sound&Video-->Exaile
Once it opens you should see the following screen
Enable Exaile Plugins
If you want to enable available plugins go to Tools--->Plugins
Once it opens you shold see the following screen with available plugins
Enable MP3 Support
Exaile uses the GStreamer engine for audio playback. You can play the audio formats of your choice by installing the appropriate GStreamer plugins without having to manually recompile the whole program. For example, since most Linux distributions don't support proprietary formats such as MP3 by default, you can add this functionality to Exaile (and other GStreamer-based programs) by installing the Ugly Plug-ins package.To enable MP3 support in Ubuntu run the following command
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-uglyAmarok
Amarok is the music player for Linux and Unix with an intuitive interface. Amarok makes playing the music you love easier than ever before - and looks good doing it.
Current Stable :- 1.4.5
Project Home page :- http://amarok.kde.org/
Install Amarok music player in Ubuntu
First you need to edit the sources.list file
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following line
deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/amarok-145 edgy main
Save file and exit
Now you need to copy the key using the following command
wget http://people.ubuntu.com/~jriddell/kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
sudo apt-key add kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
You will get a message "OK".
Now you need to install amarok using the following command
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install amarok
This will install amarok version 1.4.5
If you want to open amarok go to Applications---Sound&Video---Amarok you can see this in the following screen
Once you select amarok you shoud see the following screen
If you click on fast forward it will start the amarok configuration for the first time You should see welcome screen and here click on next
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Monitor Ubuntu System with saidar
saidar is a curses-based application to display system statistics. Statistics include CPU, processes, load, memory,swap, network I/O and disks I/O along with their free space.
saidar utilizes libstatgrab library. libstatgrab is a library that provides cross platform access to statistics about the system on which it's run. It's written in C and presents a selection of useful interfaces which can be used to access key system statistics. The current list of statistics includes CPU usage, memory utilisation, disk usage, process counts, network traffic, disk I/O, and more.
The current list of platforms is Solaris 2.x, Linux 2.2/2.4/2.6, FreeBSD 4.x/5.x, NetBSD 1.6.x, OpenBSD 3.x, DragonFly BSD 1.0, HP-UX, and Cygwin. The aim is to extend this to include as many operating systems as possible.
Current Stable Version:- 0.14
Project Home page :- http://www.i-scream.org/libstatgrab/
Install Saidar in ubuntu
sudo apt-get install saidar
This will install all the required packages for saidar
saidar syntax
saidar [-d delay] [-v] [-h]
If you want to use this application you can just type the following command
saidar
Now you should see the following screen which includes system statistics include CPU, processes, load, memory, swap,network I/O and disks I/O along with their free space.
Read More......
Saturday, 10 March 2007
NZB,PAR and UNRAR all-in-one Using Hellanzb
hellanzb is a Python application designed for *nix environments that retrieves nzb files and fully processes them. The goal being to make getting files from Usenet (e.g.: Giganews Newsgroups) as hands-free as possible. Once fully installed, all thats required is moving an nzb file to the queue directory. The rest; fetching, par-checking, un-raring, etc. is taken care of by hellanzb.
Current Stable :- 0.12
Project Home Page :- http://www.hellanzb.com/trac/
Prerequisites
twisted
You will want the command line (CLI) versions of the following
rar (or unrar) - rar extraction tool
par2cmdline - par/par2 Parity checker
Optional
mac -- Monkey Audio decoding
flac -- Free Lossless Audio Codec decoding
Install Hellanzb in Ubuntu
Preparing Your System
Open a terminal
Install the following packages
sudo apt-get install python-dev python-twisted unrar par2
Now you need to Download the latest version of Hellanzb from here
wget http://www.hellanzb.com/distfiles/hellanzb-0.12.tar.gz
Unpack this using the following command
sudo tar -xzvf hellanzb-0.12.tar.gz
Change the directory with the following command
cd hellanzb-0.12
Run the install script using the following command
python setup.py install
Copy the sample configuration file using the following commnd
sudo cp /usr/etc/hellanzb.conf.sample /usr/etc/hellanzb.conf
Configure Hellanzb settings
sudo vi /usr/etc/hellanzb.conf.sample
Look for defineServer and change the account settings to your usenet account settings.Change the PREFIX dir to:
/home/your-user-name/
You can change the other directories to your preference but it is not needed. There are also a lot of other options in the config file, change if needed.
If you want to Run the program use the following command
hellanzb.py
Download a NZB file and place it in
/home/your-user-dir/nzb/daemon.queue/
or whatever directory you choose in the config file.
Finished files will be in
/home/your-user-dir/usenet/
Web Interface for hellanzb
Hellahella
The hellahella web interface is written using a new Python framework called Pylons. A official release of hellahella is not currently available, however the development version is quite stable and is being used extensively on a variety of platforms.
Download and install from here
Hellahella Installation Instructions
Preparing your System
remove python setuptools if you have
apt-get remove python-setuptools python2.4-setuptools
Install subversion package using the following command
sudo apt-get install subversion
Then run the following command until it is successful.
sudo python ez_setup.py -U hellahella==dev
NOTE:If you get GCC errors when ez_setup tries to compile Cheetah, you can install it from packages and run ez_setup.py again using the following commands
sudo apt-get install python-cheetah
sudo python ez_setup.py -U hellahella==dev
hellahella and it's dependancies are installed.
paster make-config hellahella hella.ini
Then edit hella.ini to setup your hellanzb connection info and login information. The defaults correspond to hellanzb.py 's defaults.
Once you've setup hella.ini you are near to the completion of installation
paster setup-app hella.ini
paster serve hella.ini
You now should be able to login to hellahella by opening http://localhost:5000/ in your browser.
Zussaweb
Zussaweb is a php based web interface for the hellanzb program. Hellanzb is a fully automated console based usenet binary file retriever. Zussaweb functions as the web interface, featuring queue manipulation, status messages, nzb file uploads and more.
Download and install Zussaweb from here
Read More......Friday, 9 March 2007
Gimmie A New Panel for Gnome in Ubuntu
Gimmie is an elegant way to think about how you use your desktop computer.Gimmie is a new concept of the panel designed to shift the direction of the desktop beyond the standard WIMP model (Windows, Icons, Menu, Pointer) towards one directly representing the concepts that modern desktop users use every day. It is being considered for inclusion in Project Topaz (a.k.a. Gnome 3.0)
Gimmie Features
- A new way to think about your desktop
- Easy to learn
- Relates objects to topics– Colors aide recognition
- Quickly see what's open
- Bookmarks are running representation
- Simple & Obvious
- It's a Prototype
Current Stable Version :- 0.2.4
Project Home Page :- http://beatnik.infogami.com/Gimmie
Install Gimmie in Ubuntu
Preparing Your System
First you need to install the following packages
sudo apt-get install make gcc g++
sudo apt-get install python2.4 python2.4-dev python-gnome2-dev python-gnome2-desktop-dev libgnomecups1.0-dev
Now you need to download the Gimmie latest version from here using the following command
wget http://www.beatniksoftware.com/gimmie/releases/gimmie-0.2.4.tar.gz
Now you have gimmie-0.2.4.tar.gz file you need to extract this file using the following command
tar xzvf gimmie-0.2.4.tar.gz
You should see gimmie-0.2.4 directory you need to go in to the directory using the following command to install
cd gimmie-0.2.4
Now you need to start the compilation
./configure
make
make check
make install
This will complete the installation
Now you need to restart your gnome session or logout and login back in to your desktop.
Adding Panel Applet
Now you need to right click on the panel select add panel
Once it open you should see similar to the following screen here you need to select Gimmie under Utilities section and click on add
Once it added to the panel you should see the following screen
Gimmie Screenshots
Now we will see some screenshots
Gimmie Bar
Computer Screen Options
Applications Screen Options
Documents Screen Options
People Screen Options
Common Problems and Solutions
When I try to compile Gimmie i got the following two problems so i am giving the solutions for this
Problem
When i try to compile i got the following error
checking for GIMMIE... configure: error: Package requirements (gtk+-2.0 >= 2.6
pygtk-2.0 >= 2.6
pygobject-2.0 >= 2.6
gnome-python-2.0 >= 2.10
gnome-python-desktop-2.0 >= 2.10
libgnomecups-1.0 >= 0.2.2) were not met:
No package 'gnome-python-2.0' found
No package 'gnome-python-desktop-2.0' found
No package 'libgnomecups-1.0' found
Solution
You need to install the following packages
sudo apt-get install python-gnome2-dev python-gnome2-desktop-dev libgnomecups1.0-dev
Problem
Whe you try to add panel it doesn't show up in add to panel even after logging in and out
Solution
You can try installing gimmie into /usr by passing the “–prefix=/usr” arg to the configure script, which should place the GNOME_GimmieApplet.server file in the proper location for bonobo-activation-server to see it: usually /usr/lib/bonobo/servers.
Alternately, if you installed into the default configure location (probably /usr/local) you can just copy the .server file to /usr/lib/bonobo/servers.
sudo cp /usr/local/lib/bonobo/servers/GNOME_GimmieApplet.server /usr/lib/bonobo/servers
If all of this still doesn’t work, you may need to kill bonobo-activation-server, and/or restart gnome-panel itself.
Read More......How To Import mails from Evolution to Thunderbird
If you want to Import your mails from Evolution to Thunderbird there is very nice utility called MboxImport .
Thunderbird, like many other email clients, uses the mbox format to archive the emails.It's curious that Thundebird has not a function that let you import or export files in this format and this lack is sometimes a problem when you want to move the accounts from a pc to another one or when you want to migrate (for example) from Mozilla to Thunderbird.Anyway this kind of import can be made very easily copying the mbox file into the directory "Local Folders" (it is inside the profile directory) with Thunderbird close; restarting the program, the mbox file will be visibile as subfolder of Local Folders.To export, you must just copy the email files that are inside the account's folder.This method can give some troubles, above all for people not very expert with Thunderbird, because the profile's files are into a hidden directory, whose path changes with the operative systems or also with personal needs.
First you need to download MboxImport from here
Install MboxImport in Thunderbird
In Thunderbird, go in "Tools" --> "Extensions" and click on "Install";
pick the xpi file you downloaded and follow the instructions;
restart Thunderbird.
To export, it's sufficient a right-click on the folder or on the account and to choose the voice you want from the menu "Import/export".
Once you have saved all the folders/files into the Mbox format, just go into Evolution and select "Import" and follow the wizard using "a single file import" and select your xxxx.mbox file and then select which folder in Evolution you want to import into.
For importing the address book from Thunderbird to Evolution, use T-birds address book export function and save the address book as a .csv file.After finishing address book check everything is fine or not.
Read More......Thursday, 8 March 2007
Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Release Dates
In addition to Ubuntu 6-months stable releases and the next version of ubuntu is 7.04 with Code Name “Feisty Fawn”.
Important Dates
December 2006
December 21st - Debian Import Freeze
February 2007
February 8th - Feature Freeze, Upstream Version Freeze
March 2007
March 8th – String Freeze
March 9th – Beta Freeze
March 22nd – Beta Release
April 2007
April 5th – Non-Language Pack Translation Deadline, Kernel Freeze
April 12th – Release Candidate(RC), Language Pack Translation Deadline
April 19th – Final Release
Read More......
Backup and Restore Ubuntu System using Sbackup
Data can be lost in different ways some of them are because of hardware failures,you accidentally delete or overwrite a file. Some data loss occurs as a result of natural disasters and other circumstances beyond your control.
Now we will see a easy backup and restore tool called "sbackup"
SBackup is a simple backup solution intended for desktop use. It can backup any subset of files and directories. Exclusions can be defined by regular expressions. A maximum individual file size limit can be defined. Backups may be saved to any local and remote directories that are supported by gnome-vfs. There is a Gnome GUI interface for configuration and restore.
Current Stable Version : - 0.10.3
Project Home page :- http://sbackup.sourceforge.net/HomePage
Sbackup Features List
- Backup any subset of files and directories
- Exclude files and directories by regex expressions
- Exclude files by type (extension)
- Exclude files by maximum file size
- Backup to local filesystem
- Backup to any Gnome-VFS supported remote filesystem (including sftp and ftp)
- Full and incremental backups
- Scheduling backups via cron
- Gnome GUI for configuration
- Gnome GUI for restore
- Command-line restore tool that also provides a Python API for restoring a file or directory
- Backing up package list in Debian derived distributions
- On restore, existing files are not overwritten, but are renamed to a safe name
Installing sbackup in ubuntu
sudo apt-get install sbackupYou can use synaptic also for this if you want to know how to search this software and install check here
Backup Your Data Using SbackupOnce you completed the installation you can access sbackup using System--->Administration--->Simple Backup Config you can see this in the following screen
Next screen is asking for root password enter password and click ok
Once it opens the sbackup application you can see the following screen where you can configure your backup settings first tab is general options in this example i am choosing "Use custom backup settings"
Sbackup can be operated in 3 different modes
Recommended BackupIf you are new Ubuntu user or aren't sure what you should backup.This will perform a daily backup of your /home,system data held in /etc,/usr/local and /var.This will deliberately exclude any files over 100MB.By default this backup will be stored /var/backup
Custom BackupThis is same as the recommended backup and in this you can change the settings include,exclude files,you can change the schedule time.
Manual BackupIf you want to backup some files from time to time this option is for you and you can click backup now button to manually perform a backup according to the settings on the other backup properties dialog box tabs.
Next you click on "Include" tab here you can include any file or directory you want to backup
Next option is "Purging" here you can select old and incomplete backups and you set the no.of days you want to purge after completing all the settings you need to click on "Save" button to save your settings.
Now if you want to take backup just click on "Backup Now" or leave the schedule backup in this example i just clicked on "Backup Now" this is started a background process with process id you can see this in the following screen
Restore Your Data Using Sbackup
If you want to restore backups or any files,folders go to System--->Administration--->Simple Backup Restore you can see this in the following screen
Backup Destination on Remote machine
One more beauty about sbackup is you can store your backup on a remotemachine for this it will give the option of using SSH or FTP for this go to System---> Administration---> Simple Backup Config once it opens the application you need to click on destination tab here you can select "Use a remote Directory" option type ssh:// or ftp:// followed by the username:password, then @, then the remote host to connect to and the remote directory.
Sbackup doesn't create a new backup file each time it runs and it creates an incremental backup.Which means that it updates the last backup with files that you changed or been created any files that haven't been updated since the last backup are unchanged
Sbackup Configuration from command lineIf you want to configure sbackup you need to Edit /etc/sbackup.conf file
Restore Backup from command lineRun "sudo srestore.py /var/backup/2006-11-18_03 /home/myuser /home/myuser/old". You can omit the last parameter to restore to the same directory.
Conclusion
Sbackup is really very useful for new users particularly to allows users to choose either a simple backup scheme that performs incremental backups daily and full backups weekly, or to modify the default scheme with their own settings. Users list directories to backup in the Include tab, and select items to exclude in the Exclude tab. Exclusions can be based on directory,file type (sbackup excludes multimedia files by default), file size,or regular expression.This .
Read More......
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Scan to PDF using gscan2pdf in Ubuntu
A GUI to ease the process of producing a multipage PDF from a scan. gscan2pdf should work on almost any Linux/BSD machine.
Install gscan2pdf in Ubuntu
You need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following line save the file and exit
deb http://gscan2pdf.sourceforge.net/download/debian binary/
Now you need to update the source list with the following comamnd
sudo apt-get update
install gscan2pdf with the following command
sudo apt-get install gscan2pdf
This will install all the required packages.
If you want to open gscan2pdf go to Applications--->Graphics--->gscan2pdf
Once it open you should see the following screen
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Install Claws mail (Mail Client) in Ubuntu
Claws Mail is an email client (and news reader), based on GTK+.The appearance and interface are designed to befamiliar to new users coming from other popular email clients, as well as experienced users.
Claws Mail Features
- Quick response
- Graceful, and sophisticated interface
- Easy configuration, intuitive operation
- Abundant features
- Extensibility
- Robustness and stability
Open a terminal. Download and register the signing key for the Claws mail sources
wget http://colino.net/colin.publickeysudo apt-key add colin.publickey
Change your /etc/apt/sources.list to include the Claws mail sourcessudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
Go to the end of the file and add which source list is suitable for youFor Dapper Users
deb http://www.claws-mail.org/ubuntu/dapper/ ./For Edgy Users
deb http://www.claws-mail.org/ubuntu/edgy/ ./Save the file and exit.
Then update your sourcessudo apt-get update
Install Claws Mailsudo apt-get install sylpheed-claws-gtk2
This will pull down whatever is necessary to install the basic application.Install extras. Sylpheed has very many extensions and plugins. Take a look at them all by doing this
sudo apt-cache search sylpheed-claws-gtk2Take a look at this list (note the spamassassin plugin, the trayicon plugin, the html viewer, etc.). You can get quite
a few of the plugins by installing the plugins packages
Or, you can get them individually, by specifying them on the apt-get command line, eg:
sudo apt-get install sylpheed-claws-gtk2-spamassassinOpen Claws mail. You will find it (in gnome) under Applications --> Internet --> Sylpheed Claws gtk2
Claws Mail ThemesSpend a few minutes looking around and setting things up. If you like, you can customize the interface (as well as many other things) to use various themes.
Claws Mail Themes can be downloaded from hereTo use a theme, download it, unpack it, and navigate to the unpacked directory in sylpheed under Configuration -->Preferences --> Themes. Install the theme, then select "Use this".
You may also be interested in various scripts for use with claws mail (address conversion etc.) from hereThe feature set of sylpheed is very rich, flexible, and functional. You might find that it becomes a little addictive.
Claws Mail PluginsYou can download Claws Mail Plugins from here
Claws Mail And S/MIME plugin
If you want to know more about claws mail check here
Read More......
Monday, 5 March 2007
Send and Receive Your Hotmail messages through Evolution
If you want to use you Evolution mail client to send and receive your hotmail messages use the following procedure.
First, make sure your system is up to date. Open up a terminal and type
sudo apt-get update
First You need to install the inet daemon
sudo apt-get install inetutils-inetd
This takes care of all of our dependencies.
Next You need to install pop3 server and hotsmtp
sudo apt-get install hotway hotsmtp
This will install hotway, which allows you to read hotmail e-mails by simulating a POP3 server, and hotsmtp, which allows you to send e-mail through hotmail using SMTP.
By default, however, only hotway gets installed properly to your inet daemon, so let's fix this.
sudo gedit /etc/inetd.conf
Look for the following line
pop3 stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/hotwayd
By default, hotway leaves a copy of each message it downloads on the server but if you don't feel like filling up your hotmail box, change the line to add "-r" to the end, complete line looks like below
pop3 stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/hotwayd -r
And we also need to add a line to get hotsmtpd working, just paste the following line at the bottom of the file
2500 stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/hotsmtpd
This will set the inet daemon to listen to incoming calls on port 2500, and forward the connection to the hotsmtp daemon. Now, save your file, exit gedit, and restart your inetd server using the following command
sudo /etc/init.d/inetutils-inetd restart
If everything is working properly, you'll see the following pop up on your screen
* Restarting internet superserver inetd [ ok ]
Now, close out of your terminal and start up Evolution. It may pop up the first-time use wizard, you can use that if you like. Or, you may have to go to Edit->Preferences and hit the Mail Accounts button on the left. However you choose to do it, here's your information:
Email Address: xxx@hotmail.com (fill in your normal e-mail address that you use to login to hotmail)
Receive Server type: POP
Server: 127.0.0.1
Username: xxx@hotmail.com (same as above)
Security: No encryption
Authentication type: Password
(Remember password checkbox is up to you)
Send Server type: SMTP
Server: 127.0.0.1:2500
[X] Server requires authentication (check this box)
Use Secure Connection: No encryption
Authentication Type: PLAIN
Username: xxx@hotmail.com (same as above)
(Optional Remember password checkbox)
